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April 21, 2025

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April 21, 2025

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Pope Francis smiles at the faithful from the Popemobile in Santiago in January 2018. Pope Francis died Monday at the age of 88.

Breaking News

WORLD

Pope Francis, who shook up Catholic Church, dies at 88

Francis' often turbulent reign was marked by division and tension as he sought to overhaul the hidebound institution.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks at a parliamentary committee session in Tokyo on Monday, during which U.S. tariffs were discussed.

BUSINESS / Economy

Tokyo insists defense issues and tariff talks must remain separate

By Francis Tang

Mixing the two risks distorting the essence of each issue, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba says.

Lower House lawmaker Kai Odake in his Tokyo office on Wednesday

JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS

Is Japan’s parliament ready to welcome more youth to its ranks?

By Gabriele Ninivaggi

Among the world’s largest democracies, Japan has some of the highest minimum age requirements for politicians.

The Maritime Self-Defense Force's Mogami frigate is docked at the MSDF's base in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, earlier this month.

JAPAN / Politics

Japan, Indonesia continue frigate talks looking to boost defense-industrial ties

By Gabriel Dominguez

Ambassador Heri Akhmadi said Jakarta’s growing ties with Tokyo reflect its nonalignment policy, as it looks to avoid taking sides between China and the United States.

More than half of Japan's population may suffer from pollen allergies, with hay fever dubbed the nation’s "national disease" and blamed for being a drag on the economy.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Did I fall victim to Japan’s stealth productivity killer?

Gearoid Reidy

Hay fever has been dubbed Japan’s "national disease” and blamed as a major drag on productivity.

A "masakaki" tree offering bearing the name of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is put up at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Monday.

Ishiba gives a ritual tree offering to Yasukuni Shrine

Ishiba has no plans to visit the shrine during its three-day spring festival.

People walk down a street in the red-light entertainment area of Kabukicho in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo on March 31.

Social media helps fuel growing 'sex tourism' in Japan

By Caroline Gardin

Only certain sexual services are prohibited in Japan, and it is the sex workers — not their clients — who face fines or prison, if caught.

10 years on, Hiroshima-Shimane highway boosts logistics and tourism

Japanese mother partially acquitted over abuse of daughter

Disaster public housing complexes in Sendai work to boost interactions

Japanese retailers trying to overcome soaring rice prices

Bags of rice at a warehouse in Pyeongtaek, South Korea. Japan imported South Korean rice for the first time since 1999 this month amid soaring domestic prices for the staple grain.

Japan buys first South Korean rice in over two decades as prices surge

By Hyonhee Shin

The Japan office of South Korea’s National Agricultural Cooperative Federation said it brought in and sold 2 tons of Korean rice this month.

Demand for Japanese debt has risen since March as the Trump administration’s higher tariffs sparked a surge in market volatility.

Japan’s superlong bonds draw record foreign inflow on haven bid

By Masaki Kondo

Global funds bought a net ¥2.18 trillion of the nation’s debt with original maturities of more than 10 years.

Shrinking South Korea exports send global warning on Trump tariffs

By Soo-hyang Choi

World’s economic chiefs to face Trump’s trade war in Washington

By Katia Dmitrieva, Enda Curran and Jana Randow

China warns countries against striking trade deals with U.S.

By Liz Lee and Laurie Chen

Wall Street ‘cops are gone’ after Trump overhaul, Democratic senator warns

By Justin Sink

A draft executive order circulating among U.S. diplomats proposes a radical reduction to and restructuring of the U.S. State Department, which, if implemented, would be one of the biggest reorganizations of the department since its founding.

Trump draft proposes radical reshaping of U.S. State Department

By Neil Munshi and Simon Marks

The order would eliminate dozens of positions and departments, including those dealing with climate, refugees, democracy and Africa.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth looks on before a luncheon with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Washington Thursday. Hegseth shared information on forthcoming U.S. airstrikes on Yemen in a private Signal chat group that included his wife, brother and personal lawyer, The New York Times reported Sunday.

Pentagon chief shared sensitive Yemen war plans in second Signal chat

A U.S. official at the Pentagon questioned how Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth could keep his job after the latest news.

EU explores tweaking methane rules for U.S. gas to help trade talks

By Kate Abnett and Valerie Volcovici

'Cancer' of billion-dollar cyberscam industry spreading globally: U.N.

By Poppy McPherson

Chinese Navy says Philippine warship 'illegally entered' Scarborough Shoal waters

By Jesse Johnson

Ukraine and Russia accuse each other of violating Easter ceasefire

New York Mets pitcher Kodai Senga delivers a pitch against the St. Louis Cardinals during the first inning at Citi Field in New York on Saturday.

Kodai Senga and Pete Alonso lead Mets past Cardinals

Senga (3-1) allowed just three hits, walked two and fanned four in an 89-pitch performance.

Justin Thomas wins RBC Heritage to end long drought

Leicester relegated from Premier League as Liverpool closes in on title

Thunder open playoff campaign with record victory

Shohei Ohtani returns as Tyler Glasnow and six relievers shut out Rangers

Hiroshima is full of memorials to the 1945 atomic bombing. Among them, the peace museum promotes an ambiguous message: One against nuclear weapons without acknowledging the role of nuclear deterrence in preserving the postwar peace.

The ambiguity of Japan’s message on nuclear weapons

Ellis S. Krauss

It is common in Japan to be both anti-atomic weapons and anti-war. But are these positions not contradictory if nuclear deterrence actually works to preserve the peace?

How much 'weaponization' can the global economy take?

By Carla Norrlof

The White House just kicked a World Cup own-goal

By Adam Minter

Is this Canada’s moment?

By Thomas O. Falk

Will a 'low-altitude economy' make Chinese growth soar again?

By Hotaka Machida

The Northern Lights Carbon Capture and Storage facility in Bergen, Norway.

Big bets on speculative carbon capture tech ignore today’s solutions

By Michelle Ma and Dave Merrill

Companies from Occidental Petroleum to Microsoft are among the investors throwing billions at carbon capture startups.

Clean streets versus business woes: Pollution charge divides Londoners

By Akshata Kapoor

AI surge to double data center electricity demand by 2030, report says

By Nathalie ALONSO

Once-dying Mexican river delta slowly nursed back to life by conservationists

By Daniel Rook

As Chile revs up lithium plans, Indigenous people demand more control

By Daina Beth Solomon

Palestinian American photographer Adam Rouhana’s exhibition at this year’s Kyotographie festival shows Palestinian life, not death and rubble.

Kyotographie 2025 opts for laughter and levity in the face of global strife

By Thu-Huong Ha

Artists at the 13th edition of the international photography festival find humor and heart in their portrayals of humanity.

The floor is art: Takuro Tamayama transforms mundanity

By Kim Kahan

Japan wanted a cultural do-over. Ado gave it one.

By Patrick St. Michel

Actor Hiroyuki Sanada among Time's 100 most influential people

‘Ya Boy Kongming! The Movie’: J-pop spectacle goes heavy on performances

By Mark Schilling

Crow meat, shaped into a ball and attached to a foot of the bird, is one of the peculiar offerings of game at Mauvaise Herbe.

Crow meat, goat tartare: Mauvaise Herbe raises its game

By Andrew Lee

Taking an unconventional approach to sourcing, chef Keiji Ojima is out to showcase the little-known wild flavors of Okinawa in his French-inspired Okinawan fare.

Thumbprint cookies with a tangy Japanese filling

By Simon Daly

Japan’s first Waldorf Astoria brings art deco luxury to Osaka

By Tan Pin Yen

Voicing intentions and a peek into a traditional Japanese engagement ceremony

By Yaeko Kabe

Dior shows fall fashion collection in gardens of ancient Kyoto temple

By Irene Wang

Customers line up patiently for some early-afternoon baked goods outside Truffle, which is located close to Hiroo Station on the Hibiya Line.

How to spend the perfect day in Hiroo, Tokyo’s expat enclave

By Eric Margolis

A stroll through Hiroo reveals both the comforts of expat luxury and the quiet intrusions of a changing Tokyo.

Noriko Shakti: ‘Music reflects my journey and learnings’

By Miikka J. Lehtonen

Tokyo Humanities Cafe feeds hungry minds

By Jessica Kozuka

Montessori head educates Tokyo’s children for life

By Louise George Kittaka

How to navigate Japan’s e-commerce platforms and online flea markets

By Jessica Speed

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.

Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.

By Tomoko Otake

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